Brittany Ferries | Portsmouth - Portsmouth

Stephen R. B.

Excellent. Went from Portsmouth to Santander in June 2024 with family. Overall it was excellent experience. The staff were fantastic and welcoming, the ferry was clean, the room was compact; however beds were comfortable and room was a perfect temperature. The restaurants on board was really good with good food and service. There was a shop onboard that was alright. We even got to visit the bridge; that was a brilliant experience because it was our first time on board. The only things that could be improved is the 'soft play' rooms for kids could have more in them (only had some interactive games in them and a small boat play house), the outside one has some seesaws. You only get free WiFi for 30 minutes a day; then you have to pay. The shop could offer more 'lunch' type and baby food. Other than that it was a great experience.

Steve W.

Visited France using the Portsmouth to St Malo service and could not fault a single thing about our journeys. Friendly helpful staff super clean facilities. The food in the self service was great value and excellent quality. Will use Brittany Ferries again and would recommend them.

Jacob R.

Took a return crossing Portsmouth to Bilbao and back. Outward journey was on the Salamanca, return on the Santona in both cases we had access to the C Club lounge.

Salamanca. Cabin was a basic cabin, we had to ask for the carpet to be cleaned as it hadn't been done. Apart from that it was great. C Lounge was great, open 24hours even when refreshments were not available. Service was great as was the standard of what was on offer to eat/drink. Boarding and off boarding worked well as did customs passport etc.

Santona. Cabin was a club cabin, which was clean and worth the extra money especially as you got the C Club Lounge access thrown in for free. Club lounge was good, however for some reason they closed it overnight, which meant you couldn't use it as a quiet place to sit after 21:00...for me this was unnecessary and considering the noise at the bar a disappointment. Food etc while in the lounge were great though. Boarding and off boarding worked well as did customs passport etc.

Would definitely travel this route again...but it is expensive!

Kirsty W.

As a wheelchair user it was relatively easy to travel, I was put in an adapted room with flush floor bathroom. The only issue I had was getting from the car up to the room with all the bags as no one was available to help. Same with the food on board there wasn't anyone to help take my tray until I got to the till. Overall it was a pleasant experience

Steve A.

A lovely experience! I was a little apprehensive about travelling over with my car on this ferry for the first time because of the route and time of year but I was pleasantly surprised. Lovely ferry, nice and clean with spacious cabins. The main restaurant was nice but not the best. We paid 60€ for a bit of lunch following a lovely dinner the night before and the lunch was burnt. We couldn't eat it. Staff agreed it wasn't acceptable but we were still expected to pay, which we obviously were going to anyway but some form of goodwill would have been nice. The waiter the night before was very smelly which was off putting but he was very efficient. For some strange reason there are no tea or coffee making facilities in a 4 bed cabin even though there is room, whereas there is in the 2 beds. There were no 2 beds available so I booked 2 x 4 beds for 4 of us and we took our own kettle and cups etc to put on the otherwise wasted shelf. I don't follow how for a much more increased price you get less but there we are. The one thing we didn't like was people being allowed to sleep in communal areas. The first evening we got together in a lovely seating area which was quite quiet but the next day we went to go there to have drinks and it absolutely stunk to high heaven. It was like a school hall following a natural disaster. Simply shouldn't be allowed. People should not be allowed to travel unless they book a cabin or a seat. People's dirty feet and allsorts all over the furniture you're then expected to sit on. You then have the longest part of the trip trying to find a seating area that isn't full of the great unwashed.

George F.

As a Ferry ⛴️ I was a bit surprised the style which they have . The cabin was not what we booked, they gave us a cabin for 2 people instead of 4 how we had reserved. But that’s was not such a problem because we have been only 2 people which wanted to have some more space , but went anyway so well with the restaurant and the bar that for us the small cabin was not really a problem 👍🏽

BEE G.

Food in the a la carte was awful. Standard cabins were clean and comfortable. Shop was expensive, duty free not really duty free. Staff in the tapas very nice and friendly. Sun chairs, more needed. Overall the 36hr journey was too much, as not much to do for adults. Plenty to keep the kids amused. Free on demand tv programme's, free 1/2 hour WiFi then you have to pay 25 euros for the duration of the crossing if you want it.

Mark

Wow what can say, awful service! A security guard asked me to move lanes into the lane next to me, I pulled over into the lane and suddenly this woman started raging at me, barking at me like I was a common dog on the street! "There's a cone there, you can't do that" she barked at me! The security guard was present and apologised, obviously she cant handle early mornings! I asked the kiosk for the whereabouts of the duty manager and they said at first they didn't know who it was or where he was! The raging woman also didn't want to give me any details of who she was at first but after asking a few times she told me her name was Kelly. It appears the staff at Brittany Ferries Portsmouth seem to think passengers are scum and as such can be treated like it without any recourse! Bad service, in fact awful service! Lets see if I can track down the duty manger and see what he has to say......
Update 25/2/25
Well, the duty manager never came to see me and I was unable to find him to discuss Kelly!
I made a complaint to head office who to be fair did respond and look into it. I'm told Kelly was apologetic.....
I took the photo down on who I was told was Simon (duty manager) as head office informed me that was not him so in fairness to the chaps in the photo I've removed it.
Hopefully Kelly is now aware that some customers don't take well to being barked at just because she wears a high viz vest and has let the power go to her head....